Word Origin & History

forgive O.E. forgiefan "give, grant, allow," also "to give up" and "to give in marriage;" from for- "completely" + giefan "give" (see give). The modern sense of "to give up desire or power to punish" is from use of the compound as a Gmc. loan-translation of L. perdonare (cf. Du. vergeven, Ger. vergeben; see pardon). Related: Forgiven; forgiving

Example Sentences for forgiving

Users were actually more forgiving of the arm when they were piloting it.

The halls of academe have long been a forgiving environment for absentminded professors.

Boarders on the lookout for peak to creek power in a gentler, more forgiving package will instantly come to prefer these bindings.

People are more forgiving if the robot warns them first that it might make errors or apologizes when it screws up.

Easy money, which the housing bubble seemed to promise, put people in a forgiving mood.

Then all of these laws will be useless,and humans will be forgiving,and see each other as they see themselves.

Most of the other languages you see are more forgiving.

But the elastic, forgiving nature of the language itself was another.

The written word was a forgiving medium for over-complicated, ill-conceived messages.